"Nice White Lady"

In class we've been watching some scenes from the movie FREEDOM WRITERS and considering thet stories it tells about education and literacy.

Based on actual events, the film offers an inspiring tale and one that should make us, as educators and students, think deeply about the contexts and meanings of education. But, there are ways it also uncritically recirculates some common (and perhaps limited) accounts of education and literacy.

Spoofs often help us see what we may not have noticed. Here is one from MADTV that puts another lens on the stories told in FREEDOM WRITERS:

"Nice White Lady"

Welcome!

Dear Colleagues,

To help you get started on your first post, I'd like to ask you to play a fill in the blank game:

What Does Literacy Mean?

Think about the ways we tend to speak of it. What social value do we ascribe to it? What powers do we presume literacy carries with it?

To play the game, simply brainstorm a list that takes up the social meanings we ascribe to literacy, beginning each line on the list with:

Literacy is....____________.